Steam-engine



UNITED STATEs OFFICE.

FRANKLIN POWERS HAwKINs, on PLANO, ALABAMA.

STEAM-Emanala.v

SPECIFICATION forming parl: of LI etters Patent No. 38,110. dated March 27, 1888. Application filed OctobervQfi, 1887i Serial No. 253,231. {No.model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANKLIN POWERS HAWKINS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Plano, in the county of Cherokee and State of Alabama, have invented new and useful Improvements in Steam-Engines, of which the following is a specication.

My invention relates to improvements in steam-engines; and it has for its objects to provide a cross-head for connection to the outer Figure 1 is a side view of a portion of an engine embodying my improvements. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the same. Fig. 3 is a top plan View. A

Referring by letter to the drawings, A designates the bed of the engine, at one end of which is mounted the main shaft B, carrying the driving or Hy wheel C, and the small wheel D, to which the eccentric E is attached.

G designates the cylinder, H designates the piston operating therein, and I designates the piston-rod, secured to the piston and passing through the head of the cylinder. Y

K designates a cross-head on the outer end ofthe piston-rod, provided at the front end with the forwardly-extending ears or lugs L L, between which is pivoted the rear end of the connecting-rod M, which is attached at the front end to the wheel D. The rear end of the head-block is provided with a recess, la, in which is mounted the end of the piston-rod, and a removable pin, i, is passed through the head-block and the end of the piston-rod to secure the latter in place. The sides of the said cross-head are provided with the laterallyextendings wings or vprojections N N, which slide, respectively, on the upper and lower sides of the guide bars or ribs O O, which are arranged horizontally on opposite sides of l the block K. All tendency to lat-eral play of the piston-rodis thus avoided. P designates the steam-chest disposed' over thecylinder and having the ports Q Q leadingvto the opposite ends of the cylinder and the exhaust-openings R E, said ports and exhansb-openings being arranged neai` theends of the steam-chest. A 47S designates'the steamsupply pipe, which delivers steam into the chest at the center thereof. I

- T designates the valvestem,which is threaded for a 'considerable distance within the steam-chest, and on the said stem are screwed the valves or valve-heads UU, which t tightly in the steam-chest and are arranged at the same distance apart as the ports Q Q'. It will be seen that the distance between the valveheads is adjustable, owing to the fact that they are screwed on a threaded stem. It will also be observed that the valve-heads are on opposite sides of the supply-pipe, as before indicated.

V designates a standard secured to the bed of the engine, in which is formed a bearing or opening, W, to receive the outer end of the valve-stem.I rlhe motion of the yalve-stem 'is thus guided and held from lateral play.

X designates the eccentric-rod, which'is ,at-

sev

tachedat the end to the valve-stem between the steam-chest andthe standard V. p The operation of the invention is as follows:

The steam is admitted through the supplypipe to the space between the valve-heads,

(the pressure upon the said heads being, as

vthe return-motion.

l It will :be seen that as the steam-port at one` end of the steam-chest is opened into the space between the valve-heads the port at the other end of they chest is opened into the space `be- IOO yond thevalve-head, thus allowing the steam which is ahead of the piston to pass through the port and escape through'the exhaust-opening, which is adjacent to the port and also cornmunicates with the space beyond the valvehead. This is in fact a balanced valve, in which the power necessary to operate itneed only be sufficient to overcome the friction between the same and the sides'ofthe chest. The pressure of the steam as it enters the chest-is in all directions equal upon the sides of the chest and upon the inner sides of the valveheads, and consequently, as the said valve-V heads are both attached to the same stem, and therefore simultaneously movable in the sarne direction, the pressure in any one direction upon the Valve is perfectly balanced and neutralized by an equal pressure in the opposite direction.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. The combination,with the cylinder, and the piston-rod having the piston-head attached thereto within the cylinder, of the parallel guide-ribs O O on the bed of the engine, the

cross-head attached to the endof the pistonrcd and having thellateral wings 'or projections N N, engaging the saidguide-ribs, and the forward-extending ears L L, and the connecting-rod mounted between the said ears and connected to the driving-shaft of the engine, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. The combination of the guide-ribs O O on thev bed of the engine, the cross-head having the recess k in its rear end, the wings or projections on the sides of the` cross-head engaging and sliding on the said guide-ribs, the

`connecting-rod connected at'one end to the cross-head, the piston-rod arranged in the recess k,and the `removable pin i, passing through the cross-head and the piston-rod, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

FRANKLIN POWERS HAWKINS. JWitnessesz ELLIs HALE, JAMES C. MCKNIGHT. 

